Lying down for ten minutes after artificial insemination may increase the
chances of a successful pregnancy by 50 per cent, research has shown.

A study of 400 couples in the Netherlands found 27 per cent of women who remained lying down following insemination conceived compared with 18 per cent of those who did not.

Experts have said if the success can be translated into real life clinical practice, more couples may be spared the more invasive and difficult IVF treatment, in which the egg and sperm are mixed together in a dish outside the body before any resulting embryo is transferred back to the womb.

The authors of the study, published in the British Medical Journal, from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam are calling for all women having insemination to be offered the chance to remain lying down afterwards.

Lead author, Dr Inge Custers said: "We show that women suffering from subfertility have a 50 per cent higher chance to conceive after remaining in supine position after intrauterine insemination (IUI)."

She said that the study did not investigate if lying down also boosted the chances of conceiving after sex for fertile couples but said 'it is unlikely to influence pregnancy in a negative way'.

However experts in Britain warned there may have been faults with the research and more studies were needed to confirm the findings.

Prof William Ledger, of Sheffield University, said it was not clear what proportion of women in each group was given drugs to stimulate the ovaries to produce eggs and release them, prior to insemination.

He also warned that the overall pregnancy rate achieved in the study is somewhat lower than can be expected in Britain.

Success rates after insemination vary from five per cent to 70 per cent depending on factors such as age, methods and drugs used, and individual fertility problems.

Prof Ledger, wrote in an accompanying editorial: "Their findings agree with the intuitive idea that lying with a “feet up” tilt for a few minutes after insemination, either after intercourse or intrauterine insemination, allows the sperm to ascend into the uterine cavity, before standing up brings the negative influences of gravity into play. Such postcoital positioning was advocated in the United States many years ago but did not seem to improve conception rates after sex.

"The results suggest that units should carry out their own evaluation of immobilisation versus immediate mobilisation after intrauterine insemination, to test the hypothesis in the “real world.” If successful, more couples could be spared the rigorous and costly process of in vitro fertilisation."